Asking Alexandria recently parted ways with singer Denis Stoff after he had disappeared and been unable to be contacted by the band. Ben Bruceexplained they had heard stories of Stoff's unsavory past, but felt it was best to give the singer a fresh start with a clean slate. One of the instances has now come to light as a fan explains being stiffed $500 by Stoff before he joined Asking Alexandria and Bruce took it upon himself to repay the debt.

Maxime Solemn purchased a guest vocal spot from Denis Stoff while the singer was still in the band Down & Dirty. When Solemn inquired how much the guest spot would set him back, Stoff replied back with the amount of $800. Solemn did not have the $800, but asked if he could place a down payment to reserve the spot and would tender the remaining balance when he procured the funds. After the $500 was put down in either December of 2014 or early 2015, Stoff officially joined Asking Alexandria in May of 2015 and told Solemn there would be no guest spot.

After hounding Stoff with emails and attempting to contact him through Asking Alexandria's record label, Sumerian Records, Solemn was left in the dark with no response about getting his down payment back. "First I tried emailing him a lot but he never responded, so then I added him on Facebook," Solemn told Brian Storm in an interview (video below). Stoff responded, stating he changed emails and said, "I will pay you back as soon as I get paid."

Months went by with no word from Stoff and Solemn said, "From time to time he would contact me again on Facebook and say 'Yeah, it's coming, I'll take care of it, I'll take care of it.' One time he asked me Western Union information so he could pay me but nothing happened."

Evidently, Ben Bruce caught wind of the situation and offered to pay back the $500 Stoff owed Solemn. As Brian Storm noted in the follow-up interview (video below), this was not Bruce's debt as the deal was made between Solemn and Stoff regarding Stoff's pre-Asking Alexandria outfit Down & Dirty. "I was legitimately fangirling," Solemn said after receiving payment from Bruce. "I even lost my cool on Twitter; we were private messaging and I was like 'What, this is happening?' I said I would check [Asking Alexandria] out in Belgium again this February and [Bruce] said 'Yeah, we can have a drink' and I was like 'What!?'"

Asking Alexandria are currently headlining the Sumerian Records '10 Years in the Black' tour, which will come to an end on Dec. 6. Get the list of remaining stops at our 2016 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours and watch footage of the band back in action with Worsnop up front here.

Brian Storm Interviews Maxime Solemn About Being Scammed By Denis Stoff + Being Paid Back By Ben Bruce